That's where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was laying hold of some part of me that I didn't even know was there until I let it out. Etta James More Quotes by Etta James More Quotes From Etta James I sing the songs that people need to hear. Etta James song people needs Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't. Etta James sorry feelings song People always say 'Etta, you know what your problem is? You're neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.' When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks. Etta James different two people When I'm performing for the people, I am me, then. I am that little girl who, when she was five years old, used to sing at church. Or I'm that 15-year-old young lady who wanted to be grown and wanted to sing and couldn't wait to be smokin' a cigarette, you know? Etta James girl people years And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve. Etta James nerves done men It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them. Etta James records artist song Johnny Guitar... just one of my favorite singers of all time. I met him when we were both on the road with Johnny Otis in the '50s when I was a teenager. We traveled the country in a car together.I would hear him sing every night. Etta James teenager night country When Malcolm X was assassinated I was working at the Apollo. They brought his body to the Unity Funeral Home, which was around the corner. Etta James unity funeral home All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore. Etta James gumbo ice-cream cookies Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool. Etta James space real baby It's the same thing now. When I go onstage the young people scream and holler as much as the older generation. Etta James glowing generations people My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble! Etta James piano mother play My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy. Etta James jazz singers mother I am so happy that I am alive and can walk. Etta James i-am-alive alive walks I really turned into, you know, the real street kid. I was kind of like a runaway, but I had a mother, you know what I mean, and I had a place to stay. Etta James real mother mean I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild. Etta James sloppy wanted kids My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself. Etta James pounds mother lost Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. Etta James comedian attitude children I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute. Etta James punk today mean I'm not starry eyed, and I'm not money crazy. Etta James crazy
